


I Saw Aunt Ruby Kissing Santa Claus

by sporklift



Series: Christmas 2015 Song Prompts [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitting, Christmas, Christmas Prompt, Christmas Prompts 2015, Christmas decoarating, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Festive kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 13:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5335736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sporklift/pseuds/sporklift
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mulan and Ruby watch Phillip Jr. for the weekend, they decide to entertain him by decorating for Christmas. From there, things snowball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Saw Aunt Ruby Kissing Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt** "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and Mulan Rouge by Snowflake Anon.

Usually, they didn't decorate for the holidays this early. Ruby had enough premature Holiday Cheer working at Granny's and Mulan didn't mind holding off till a week or so before the day. But this year was...different.

Namely in that Mulan's best friend's father had a brain biopsy scheduled two states away. It was something both Aurora and Phillip felt obliged to attend but they had a conundrum in shape of a four-year-old boy. A four-year-old boy who only ever saw Stefan once or twice a year, who couldn't handle the  _boredom_ of a four hour car trip added to the wait at the hospital.

And so, Aunt Mulan and Aunt Ruby had agreed to take him in for the weekend. They pulled out the futon in Mulan's office and bought a sampler of more child-friendly cereals than their usual vegetable-and-egg breakfast.

The house wasn't incredibly child friendly, and although Aurora had insisted (" _You won't need to entertain him, we'll bring some of his own toys and his picture books.")_ there was something off-putting in having a small human being in their house and not doing anything to acknowledge his presence.

(And besides, Ruby had mentioned, they still had to maintain Favorite Aunts status.)

Little Phil Jr. wasn't one for the makeshift toys they had lying around - he'd play a bit on Mulan's punching bag, try to walk around in Ruby's heels only to find the bag was too hard for his tiny knuckles and the glove was too big or that Ruby's heels were too high and strappy to be any fun at all to play in.

So, back to the drawing board.

And that's when Ruby got the idea to put the tree up. "Kids like Christmas, don't they?"

They do. And Little Phil Jr. most definitely did. No sooner had Mulan paid the truck for delivering the pine tree to their house than Little Phil all but popped out of the woodwork.

"Is that a Christmas tree?" He asked, eyes lighting up. "Are you getting ready for  _Santa_ , Aunt Mulan? Can I help?"

Mulan had chuckled and ruffled the kid's little red head, "We'd be delighted if you would."

They broke out the hot cocoa and Ruby reluctantly turned on the Pandora station from Granny's - all Christmas music of course - and Mulan and Phil carried in boxes of decorations from the garage.

Phil was a meticulous planner in decorating the tree. Ruby sat back with an arm around Mulan and watched, using a hand to cover the grin on her face as the small child separated the boxes by  _category._ Bulbs and lights versus ornaments, glitters, and garland. He knit his brows looking for the homemade decorations with pictures and popsicle sticks on them.

"Those are on my Granny's tree," Ruby said when his lip started to poke out. "They're just not at this house."

"Oh" was the only thing the small child said before squaring his shoulders. Aunt Mulan was on light duty, Aunt Ruby on garland, and Phil himself was on ornaments.

It lasted a good hour or so, putting the decorations up, dancing around the living room to  _Jingle Bell Rock_ and  _Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree._ Phil did his best to reach on his tiptoes to get the bulbs as high as he could, eventually saying that his aunts could put some of the other bulbs up higher when he was done.

By the time Phil sat back onto the couch to admire his work, he'd knocked himself right out with excitement, head drooping down onto his chest.

While Mulan carried him to bed, Ruby shuffled through the rest of the boxes they'd brought in from the garage and, from there, things snowballed.

 

* * *

 

 

Mulan has to admit, when she comes out of the office, the living room is rather pretty. The ornaments are haphazard and unbalanced to the bottom and front of the tree, but the garland on the fireplace and the lights on the tree are picturesque. The woman crouched in front of the series of boxes even more so.

Ruby seems to sense Mulan before she can announce herself and looks up with a mischievous grin. "Guess what I found."

"Uh...Spray-on snow from 1997?"

"Nope." Ruby grinned and buried her hands into the box before standing up in one movement - practically  _whooshing_ as she went - revealing the dingy red coat and faux fur trim.

Mulan tired to suppress the laugh that blurted forward, hissing it back when it came out loud and abrasive lest they wake Phil. Softening her voice to a whisper, she asked, "Why do we have that?"

"I guess it was in the box I took when I moved in," Ruby shrugged, bending at the waist to fetch the rest of the costume - trousers, and beard-wig-hat set in all. She laughed, throwing the costume on the chair. Two steps forward and she was plopping the hat-wig set on Mulan's head. Jovially she nodded. "Very sexy."

"My girlfriend's turned on by Santa Claus," Mulan muttered, adjusting the cap on her head nonetheless, "We might need to have a talk, Ruby."

"Wait. I don't know if it's legit yet. Put on the coat."

Mulan tried to open her mouth when she grinned, only to get a mouthful of wiry fake hair. She spluttered in displeasure and shrugged on the coat on. "Guess you want the complete look," She said, stuffing a throw pillow into the coat and reaching for the red trousers.

Seeing her girlfriend's behavior caught Ruby by surprise. Mulan was always such a driven person, silliness was a complete novelty. Perhaps, she thought, this was what happened when a situation - finally - had no stakes.

Fanning herself with her hand in a big exaggerated movement, Ruby grinned. "Oh yeah. This does everything for me."

"Everything?" Mulan replied, nodding with equal exaggeration. She gestured to herself in a sweeping motion. "All of it?"

"Well," Ruby wrinkled her nose and tugged on the beard, lowering it below Mulan's chin. "Maybe not the beard."

"Didn't think you would," Mulan smiled, wrapping her hands around the back of Ruby's neck and pressing closer, eyes locked together with all the comforts of familiarity - of love- their, lips pressed together, tasting like hot cocoa and feeling just as sweet.

Ruby nibbled on her lip, smearing lipstick on the corners of Mulan's mouth, her cheek, her jaw, not that it mattered. There, in the comfort of their living room, in the discomfort of a musty velvet costume, Mulan decided that premature Christmas decoration might become a tradition she could live with.

Phil waddled into the kitchen, legs still sleepy and stiff from the night, the next morning with a yawn and "Hi."

"Hey, little man." Ruby greeted him, both hands clutched around her mug of coffee.

"Good morning, Phil." Mulan put her own plate of eggs down and smiled to the kid as she pulled out the cereal sampler. "What would you like for breakfast? Looks like we've got Frosted Flakes, Mini Wheats, Corn Pops, Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Apple-"

"Didya go someplace when Santa was here, Aunt Mulan?"

Mulan almost dropped the cereal pack. Ruby turned around abruptly.

"What?"

Phil nodded very matter-of-factly. "Yeah. I got up to go potty and he was right here. Aunt Ruby was kissing him. _"_

"Was she?" Mulan's voice cracked, sliding her deer-in-headlights glance over to Ruby. What, exactly, had he seen?

"I saw it and  _everything._ I woulda said hi but I had to go potty and I wasn't wearing my Pull-Ups. After I got back Santa was gone. So was Aunt Ruby."

" _Oh."_ Mulan nodded slowly, paralyzed with the weight in the awkwardness. "That's...upsetting."

"Yeah." Phil pulled himself into a dining chair and leaned with his elbows on the table. "You shoulda been there, Aunt Mulan. It was so  _funny."_

That time, it was Ruby who'd inquired. "Funny?"

"Uh-huh." Phil didn't feel the need to elaborate, instead saying. "Can I have Frosted Flakes?  _Pleeeeease_."

"Sure," Mulan opened the small box and tried not to laugh when she made eye contact with Ruby. Nice to know that being aunts would still give them plenty of stories for later. She'd thought the conversation had passed and poured the milk into a plastic bowl when Phil decided to give one more detail.

"Santa's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be."

He didn't understand, at the moment, why Aunt Ruby spun around to cackle into the coffeemaker, or why Aunt Mulan stiffened a little or said "Not  _that short.'_

How would Aunt Mulan know? She wasn't even there!


End file.
